NCLEX passed after two attempts

[Arizonaaa]

I have to say the NCLEX was one of the hardest exams I've ever taken. I've been reading about how everyone studied and watching people explain how they studied for the NCLEX on Youtube. I tried to follow all these pieces of advice and what people in my graduating did to pass.

My first attempt taking the NCLEX I see I was far from ready. The second attempt I realized I put some effort in but it really wasn't enough. My school gave us the Kaplan review and while I thought I was learning from it, I really wasn't. The question on Kaplan were really good, all above passing questions, but if you don't sit there and really try to learn the material it's pointless. If you just sit there and go through questions as fast as possible and try to answer as many as you can without really trying to learn the concepts behind them then this IS NOT studying. I did this for my first two rounds of studying, although I was gone from home for 6 to 8 hours a day I wasn't learning anything. Just trying to memorize facts and definitions.

My third attempt I realized something had to change. I deleted Facebook (my only form of social media that I have) and decided NCLEX was going to be my life for the next month. I bought a number of books:

Lippincott's Q&A Review for NCLEX-RN

Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment: Practice Exercises for the NCLEX Examination

NCLEX-RN 2015-2016 Strategies, Practice, and Review with Practice Test (Kaplan Nclex-Rn Exam)

Mosby's review questions for the NCLEX-RN examination, 7th edition

NCLEX-RN Practice Questions Exam Cram (4th Edition)

NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide

Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN® Examination, 6e (Saunders Comprehensive Review for Nclex-Rn)

I found that the Kaplan review guide's first 100-150 pages were the most helpful. The book itself I thought was pointless to own- what you need is the content review guide. I personally liked how Saunder's content was explained but Kaplan seemed to be more point blank and was the one I chose to use.

I also decided that the Kaplan review was not for me so instead I invested into Uworld. I did 85 questions a day but focused on the wrong answers the most. When I didn't understand a subject I used picmonic.com. The rationales are very important to understand and grasp for the NCLEX.

All in all it's all about how YOU study and how YOU learn.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Congratulations for achieving a passing result, and thank you for providing vivid details of your personal experiences. Hopefully others will read this and be helped.

[Arizonaaa]

Thanks! After 2 attempts I finally understand what people are saying now, wish I really listened the first round.